The Conversation Starter
by independentwriter-137
Summary: In which Marinette sends Adrien a text meant for Alya and Adrien gets carried away with the cat puns. One-sided reveal.


_A/N. Ahhhh here we are again. Another day, another one-shot. Enjoy as I torture Marinette once more._

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 _-The Conversation Starter-_

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It was rare that Marinette found herself without anything to do. In between her duties as Ladybug, her busy life as an aspiring designer, her never-ending pile of homework, and her responsibilities in the bakery, she barely even found time for a decent night's rest. But now, stuck watching over the bakery while her parents were out catering a party, she found herself bored.

For once, she was actually on top of her homework, Hawkmoth seemed to be taking a break from sending akumas this past week, and Chat had notified her beforehand that he would be too busy this week to meet her for patrol. She had mixed feeling about that. At first, she had thought she would be relieved to be away from her partner's over the top flirting and penchant for punning, but instead she found herself straining to hear his carefree laugh as she swung from building to building.

"Something wrong, Marinette?" Tikki asked from her spot on Marinette's shoulder.

Marinette pursed her lips. Her sketchbook lay open in front her, pencil hovering uncertainly as she found herself woefully uninspired to begin sketching. "I didn't think it was possible to run out of things to do, but I've done it, Tikki," she said.

The kwami giggled before taking another bite of her chocolate chip cookie. "Maybe you should text Alya and ask her to come over."

"She's babysitting again," she groaned, finally setting the pencil down. She eyed her phone and nearly knocked Tikki off of her shoulder when she suddenly sat up. "Maybe she's not too busy to text though. Maybe I can ask her to send me a good joke."

"A joke?" Tikki asked, voice full of barely concealed laughter. "You mean like a pun?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice. Alya actually loves—" her eyes snapped away from her phone to glare at her kwami. "I know what you're thinking."

Tikki blinked at her in a way that was far too innocent to be believable. "I don't know what you're talking about, Marinette."

Marinette glanced at her phone to choose the recipient of her text before turning her attention back to her kwami. "You think I miss Chat Noir, which I do _not._ I'm just, I— _"_ Marinette cut herself off as she mulled over her words carefully. "I'm just in the mood to laugh," she decided on.

A delighted giggle escaped the ladybug kwami as she flew off Marinette's shoulder to get a better look at the text she sent. "Whatever you say, Marinette. I guess, _oh no."_

"What? What ' _oh no'?"_ Marinette asked, redirecting her gaze back to the screen.

"You sent the text to Adrien."

" _Tikki, I sent the text to Adrien!"_ Marinette screeched. She must have missed Alya's name while she was talking to Tikki. Their names were right next to each other on her contact list and _damnit_ she really wished her Ladybug luck would kick in right about now and knock down a nearby cell tower or something. "Do you think we can transform and steal his phone before he sees it?"

"We're not stealing his phone again, Marinette."

"But—"

"No buts! It's not even embarrassing. You just said _'Help me I'm so bored, tell me a joke or something,"_ Tikki said. "It's a great conversation starter!"

"We really don't have to _steal_ the phone. He's probably in the middle of a photoshoot right now. We'll be in and out in a— _Tikki he replied!"_ the girl yelped and dropped her phone as she crouched behind the counter.

Tikki sighed and picked up the device. She took a glance at the message and giggled as she brought it to Marinette. "I think you found _exactly_ what you were looking for," she teased.

 _From: Adrien_

 _To: Marinette_

 _I have been waiting for an op_ purr _tunity like this my entire life._ Purr _pare to laugh and remember that you asked for it._

 _Q: What do you call a pile of kittens?  
A: A meowntain _

Marinette watched in silent amazement as text after text came in, each of the jokes revolving around _cats_ of all things. Adrien didn't even wait for her reply, seemingly content with the opportunity to pun his way through their one-sided conversation.

 _From: Adrien_

 _To: Marinette_

 _Q: Why don't cats like online shopping?  
A: They prefer a cat-alogue. _

_From: Adrien_

 _To: Marinette_

 _Q: There were 10 cats in a boat and one jumped out. How many were left?  
A: None, because they were copycats! _

_From: Adrien_

 _To: Marinette_

 _Q: Why was the cat sitting on the computer?  
A: To keep an eye on the mouse! _

The spamming showed no signs of slowing down and judging by how rapidly they were coming in, either Adrien was really fast at typing or he had all of these jokes saved on his phone.

Why did Marinette have a feeling it was the latter?

She turned to meet Tikki's amused stare and whispered in horror, "They share the same sense of humor."

"Yeah, right, that's _all_ they share," Tikki muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"I said, what a _cat_ astrophe!"

Marinette pointed an accusing finger at her kwami. "No! Not you too! This was a mistake. All of it was a mistake." She glanced at her phone as more puns came pouring in with no signs of stopping. It would be amazing really, if it wasn't so terribly out of line with everything she knew about Adrien, little as that might be.

Tikki giggled and flew to her Chosen's cheek to give her an encouraging nudge. "This is a good thing! You don't have to be so nervous around him now. Pretend you're talking to Chat Noir!"

Suddenly, Tikki felt Marinette stiffen beneath her and the kwami pulled away to cast a worried glance at her Chosen. Marinette's eyes were wide and her lips were parted in surprise. Tikki watched with a mix of amusement and alarm as a blush began to bloom on Marinette's cheeks and rapidly spread to her entire face.

 _"Oh my God, I'm talking to Chat Noir."_

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 _A/N. This was so much fun to write and I hope you guys had fun reading it as well. I'm so thankful for all of your reviews on my previous fics. This is definitely one of the best fandoms that I've been a part of! Virtual cookies and camembert for you all._

 _Please leave a review!_

 _-Indy_


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